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51. anonymous
    Member

    These are FIFTH GRADERS. Not eighth, not high school. Fifth.

    No, we can't turn back, but we all need to realize that computers/laptops are not the end all be all. When was the last time anyone suggested that students get materials from books? Please don't tell me that books are obsolete.

    There were a few situations recently involving the internet/facebook at our local high school. They each could have had disastrous consequences. Thankfully they didn't. So district 96 blocks facebook and myspace from their computers. The more important lesson to learn from them is to teach the children (yes, they still are CHILDREN, no matter how quickly we speed up their maturation process) what can and has happened because of the internet.

    Let's not forget, too, that the information provided on the internet is only as good as what is inputted. When requiring research, how many sources are required to be cited? Do you require information from the archaic printed books? I'm familiar enough to know that children will go to the first couple of google search results for their information. Those are not always the most credible, wikipedia for example.

    I agree that we need to teach computer technology. We need to be smart about it, and I don't believe allowing 10 and 11 year old children to transport laptops that I have purchased through my taxes is smart. Again, the questions remain--what happens when, not if, they are stolen or dropped or "lost".

    If I had a 5th grader, I would not want the responsibility for it.

    Posted Sunday Mar 14, 2010 12:18 #

52. TomJacobs
    Member

    hgallagher:

    In your post, you say that "... we cannot be cowardly about preparing our students to live and work in the world as it is."

    What specifically are you referring to as being cowardly with regard to asking questions about the prudence of the 1-to-1 laptop initiative?

    Posted Sunday Mar 14, 2010 13:00 #

53. Kelly
    Member

    H Gallagher, you do make some really great points, especially the point you make about facilitating different learning styles and levels in a single class. I appreciate your insight.

    However... I DO have a son going into 5th grade at St. Mary School next year.

    My first thought was if the Dist 96th kids are getting this great benefit then Dist 96 should give my children laptops too, it is only fair, I've paid for them, right?!

    What I've come to think now is that the last thing my son needs is a laptop. I have two boys, two grades apart. It seems crazy for taxpayers to give our family two laptops, especially when we have a perfectly good one at home. Why can't kids use home computers to access the programs you are talking about?

    I know all kids are different, but I feel that my children are actually at an advantage by learning how to put pen to paper. I like the fact that my kids are learning by listening to a human being.

    My kids have their whole lives to clack away at a computer. Maybe I'm wrong, but I think 5th grade is just to early to give a child a computer.

    Posted Sunday Mar 14, 2010 16:39 #

54. anonymous
    Member

    Great point, Kelly. hgallagher seems to think that the controversy is against allowing the children to learn on a computer. not at all. the issue is whether they should be *given* a computer to take home. there are plenty of computers in each classroom, or at least the students have access to plenty of computers. most families have at least one computer at home. if they don't, then they can use the computers at each of the public libraries. Again, we're talking about fifth graders. What kind of homework assignments are the 5th graders required to do, which necessitates them to have their own computers?

    So these laptop computers will follow the children from one grade to the next. This means that we will be purchasing hundreds more laptops for the incoming 5th grade class. And then the following year the same scenario. It sounds like a frivolous expenditure to me.

    However, I don't think that many public school teachers have ever thought that any expenditure was too frivolous. It's not their money.

    Posted Sunday Mar 14, 2010 17:50 #

55. hgallagher
    Member

    What I admire about District 96’s initiative is that rather than a lukewarm testing of the waters, it took a bold plunge. Imagine the confidence this administration has in its teachers and in its own ability to manage the transformation of learning to be more relevant and responsive! It takes courage to ask teachers to redesign their delivery of instruction and to support them through it. To be honest, it’s what I would expect from a district with the reputation and resources we have.

    The community that has coalesced around this issue here, however, argues that the one-to-one laptop program is a mistake—for both its cost and intention, making it emblematic of dissatisfaction with something much more than the laptops.

    Voicing disapproval about the way the district is spending money should not obscure the real advantages of the laptops.

    As far as centering objections around fifth-graders, or any other grade, one of the genuine benefits of the laptops is that we can more easily target, strengthen, and remediate skills, rather than keep everyone on the same page whether it’s the right one for them or not.

    Posted Sunday Mar 14, 2010 19:37 #

56. anonymous
    Member

    Sometimes when you take a bold plunge, you drown.

    Again, this isn't about not using technology IN THE CLASSROOM. They have been using technology in the classroom for years. It's about giving laptop computers to 10 and 11 year old children. Some can handle them--and some can't. To use your words, it's keeping everyone on the same page whether it’s the right one for them or not.

    Go back to the post a few pages ago from Raymond, the post where he writes that some of the finest universities in the country are banning laptops from the lecture halls. I'm sure that it is only a matter of time before all universities will ban them--and it will filter down to the high schools and then the grade schools.

    Posted Monday Mar 15, 2010 13:17 #

57. hgallagher
    Member

    The laptops under discussion on this forum provide seamless, at-your-fingetips integration with instruction, practice, and productivity. It's been my experience that making them part of the students' regular approach to the work is more effective than reserving them for special-occasion use.

    Perhaps if the college students who so frustrate their professors had been instructed to use the technology at their fingertips meaningfully the professors wouldn't be having so many problems.

    And maybe if some of those professors upgraded their teaching skills they could find ways to interest students in what they have to say.

    Posted Monday Mar 15, 2010 17:45 #

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